Various noises may occur during a telephone or video conference. Some of the noises may be impulsive noises, such as ticks or pops having very short duration. Other noises may be constant noises, such as the sound from an airconditioning unit. Conference participants may also create various noises by typing on a computer keyboard, eating, shuffling papers, whispering, tapping a table with a pen, or the like.
When many endpoints participate in a multi-way video/audio conference via a bridge, random noises (such as keyboard typing, paper rustling, and the like) are a constant source of irritation. Typically, the primary talker asks all other endpoints to mute their microphones, which solves the issue of the random noise interference. However, when a talker at a muted endpoint wishes to then talk, the mute button must be un-muted. Quite often, the new talker forgets to un-mute before actually speaking. Moreover, when a current talker finishes talking, the talker must remember to actuate the mute button once again, and similarly the talker often forgets. Additionally, quick muting and un-muting from one talker to another during the conference can in itself be disruptive and undesirable.
Occasionally during a conference, two or more conferees accidentally start talking almost simultaneously, interrupting each other and creating a speech collision. Usually, such a speech collision is followed by a few moments of silence from both conferees. Then, each one gently signals to the other to proceed, encouraging each other to continue speaking. This leads to the conferees to both restart talking simultaneously, creating a chain of speech collisions and embarrassing moments for both sides.
Therefore, there is a need for automatic handling of noise and speech collisions in a conference.